Saturday, October 20, 2012

Sandusky accuser promotes his book

He was known only as Victim 1 in one of the most infamous child sexual abuse cases in history. But this week, Aaron Fisher revealed his identity to the world and, in an exclusive interview with "20/20's" Chris Cuomo, told the story of those he said stood in his way as he struggled to bring now-convicted child predator Jerry Sandusky to justice: officials at his own high school.

"Here I am, beside my mom, crying, telling them and they don't believe me," he said in an interview with Cuomo airing on "20/20" tonight at 10 p.m. ET. "I knew they wouldn't."

Fisher has detailed his struggle to have his allegations against Sandusky, formerly a revered Penn State University football coach, taken seriously in a new book, "Silent No More: Victim 1's Fight for Justice Against Jerry Sandusky," published today.

Note that every single Sandusky accuser is making money off of the accusations. He could be lying to sell books and get a Penn State lawsuit settlement.

The main complaint of the show is that the boy and his mom Daniels made a complaint to a high school principal, and she did not believe them.

By the time Fisher was 15, he reached a breaking point and finally summoned the courage to tell his mother and the school's principal, Karen Probst, that Sandusky was sexually abusing him.

"Aaron was melting down in the office," Daniels said. "I immediately told them we need to call the police." ...

Daniels and Fisher later learned that Central Mountain High School officials did call CYS, but they say the call only came after the mother and son left the principal's office. School officials are legally mandated to report all allegations of child sex abuse and have said that the allegations were reported immediately.

The TV show acted as if this is a big scandal, but it is not.

First, the principal did report the accusation. She is not mandated to believe every accusation, just to report suspected abuse.

Second, if the principal did not believe the accusation, then she was not required to report. She is only mandated to report what she suspects, not what some student or parent suspects.

Third, the mom and boy were completely free to call the police themselves. It is wrong to expect a principal to call police on behalf of a parent making a request. The police complaint should come from whoever has knowledge of the alleged crime.

I continue to disagree with how this scandal has been prosecuted and reported. No one shows any skepticism about the accusations.